Moving From Data

to Information
A Communispond Webinar
Wayne Turmel
Director of Faculty

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Ground Rules

• Your voices are mute

• Remove distractions

• Type your questions

in chat box

• You will get input

• Capture all written

questions and respond via email

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Who’s Here?

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide Title

What's Your Position?

• Senior Leadership
• VP/Director
• Manager
• Team Leader
• Individual Contributor
 Our Time Together

• Life’s Not Simple: What’s Wrong

With Complexity?

• Focus Your Message

• Tips to Simplify and Still Inform

• How Communispond can Help

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Let’s Define Our Terms

• Data—symbols, numbers
• Information—the “who, what, where”
• Knowledge—application (“how”)
• Understanding—“why”
• Wisdom—“so what”

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

Live Meeting Poll
Let's Hear From You

What is the impact of ineffectively delivering

complex data in your organization?

• Delays in implementation
• Cost overruns
• Great ideas are squashed
• Mistakes and rework
• Lost sales

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 The Data Was Good …
• Crystal Pepsi

• New Coke

• Space Shuttle Challenger

• An example closer to home …

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Clarity Means Lower Taxes

A study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers

found that the clearer the tax code, the
lower the rate. People in Singapore
(most clear) paid 46% fewer taxes than
in China (most complex)

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Three Biggest Challenges

• Unclear purpose

• “Noise to signal ratio”

• “Too much” data

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Which Map is Better?

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 What’s Your Purpose?

• Inform/update
• Persuade
• Recommend
• Lead analysis discussion

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Defining Outcome

“When my presentation is over, I want

my audience to _______________”

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Signal to Noise Ratio

“The ratio of a
signal’s power to
the noise power
corrupting the signal”

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 In Other Words …

… Anything that doesn’t directly impact

the outcome is noise:

• Entire spreadsheets
• Support overkill
• “Just-in-case” information

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Noise is in the Ears of the Beholders ….

Does your audience know your

purpose and outcome?

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 An Example is in Order

How important is clear communication

in the business world?

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Two Days in an Operating Room

• 430 total “instances of

Communication”

• 44% considered failures

– Misunderstood
– Not heard
– Wrong person

• 33% impacted patient

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Two days in an Operating Room

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 “Noise” Factors

• Impact on individuals
• Impact on outcome
• Previous knowledge
• Bias and preconceptions

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Layer Your Presentation

• Define purpose and outcome

• Visuals
• Supporting material
• Words

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Visuals

• Answer “So what?”

• Aid in retention
• Create analogies
• “Paint a picture”

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

Live Meeting Poll
Slide Title

What are the visuals that are most helpful to you

but least helpful to your audience in
presentations?

• Screen captures
• Spreadsheets
• Charts/Graphs
• Photographs
• Text

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 How’s the Dollar Doing?
informa USD rates 2007 Updated 1-Dec 1-Jan 1-Feb 1-Mar 1-Apr
2 3 4 5 6

Currency ISO-code Dec-07 Jan-07 Feb-07 Mar-07 Apr-07

USD
UAE Dirham AED 0.2723 0.2723 0.2723 0.2723 0.2723
Argentina Pesos ARS 0.3267 0.3266 0.3223 0.3224 0.3233
Australian Dollar AUD 0.7871 0.7910 0.7716 0.7880 0.8073
Bahrain Dinars BHD 2.6255 2.6422 2.6359 2.6559 2.6529
Brazil Real BRL 0.4617 0.4689 0.4693 0.4654 0.4891
Canadian Dollar CAD 0.8784 0.8622 0.8476 0.8568 0.8672
Swiss Franc CHF 0.8287 0.8193 0.7977 0.8172 0.8196
Chilean Peso CLP 0.0019 0.0019 0.0018 0.0018 0.0019
Chinese Yuan CNY 0.1277 0.1281 0.1286 0.1293 0.1294
Cyprus Pound CYP 2.2781 2.2786 2.2351 2.2841 2.2955
Czech koruna CZK 0.0472 0.0479 0.0459 0.0467 0.0476
Danish Krona DKK 0.1770 0.1766 0.1736 0.1769 0.1787
Egyptian Pound EGP 0.1746 0.1753 0.1754 0.1755 0.1762
EURO EUR 1.3188 1.3161 1.2937 1.3184 1.3316
British Pound GBP 1.9561 1.9611 1.9548 1.9543 1.9594
Hong Kong Dollar HKD 0.1286 0.1286 0.1281 0.1280 0.1280
Hungarian Forint HUF 0.0051 0.0052 0.0050 0.0052 0.0054
Indonesian Rupiah IDR 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001
Isralien New Shekel ILS 0.2356 0.2364 0.2344 0.2366 0.2407
Indian Rupee INR 0.0224 0.0226 0.0226 0.0226 0.0231
Japanese Yen JPY 0.0086 0.0084 0.0082 0.0084 0.0085
South Korean Won KRW 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011
Kuwaiti Dinars KWD 3.4451 3.4507 3.4352 3.4477 3.4569
Libyan Dinar LYD 0.7681 0.7664 0.7655 0.7624 0.7826
Malaysian Ringgit MYR 0.2764 0.2836 0.2858 0.2851 0.2893
Mexican Peso MXN 0.0909 0.0921 0.0906 0.0894 0.0908
Norwegian Kroner NOK 0.1612 0.1592 0.1586 0.1626 0.1641
New Zealand Dollar NZD 0.6814 0.7059 0.6846 0.6990 0.7138
Omani Rials OMR 2.5864 2.5907 2.5807 2.5892 2.5985
Philippine Peso PHP 0.0202 0.0204 0.0204 0.0206 0.0207
Polisch Zloty PLN 0.3461 0.3438 0.3297 0.3365 0.3443
Qatari Real QAR 0.2747 0.2747 0.2747 0.2747 0.2749
Romanian new Lei RON 0.3832 0.3883 0.3808 0.3867 0.3971
Russian Rouble RUB 0.0380 0.0380 0.0377 0.0382 0.0384
Saudi Rials SAR 0.2655 0.2660 0.2649 0.2658 0.2667
Swedish Krona SEK 0.1455 0.1454 0.1430 0.1420 0.1424
Slovakia Crowne SKK 0.0371 0.0382 0.0368 0.0383 0.0400
Singapore Dollar SGD 0.6484 0.6525 0.6504 0.6548 0.6592
Thai Baht THB 0.0279 0.0284 0.0291 0.0282 0.0312
Taiwan Dollar TWD 0.0309 0.0307 0.0302 0.0303 0.0302
Ukraine Hryvnia UAH 0.1981 0.1985 0.1982 0.1975 0.1999
US Dollar USD 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
South African Rand ZAR 0.1393 0.1427 0.1373 0.1386 0.1373

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 How’s the Dollar Doing?

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Simplify Visuals

• Two alternatives

• Converging issues

• Screen alternatives

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Two Alternatives

Rock Hard Place

?

Source: {text} 27
©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Converging Issues

Customer Phone
database issues system outage
{title}
• {text}

Bad customer
experience

Understaffing Training issues

Source: {text} 28
©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Screening Alternatives
{Phone Interviews} {Face-to-Face Interviews} {Final Interviews}

• First cut • List alternatives

remaining after
• List alternatives
remaining after
• List alternatives
remaining after
phone interviews face-to-face final interviews
interviews

Source: {text} 29
©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Avoid Extreme Alternatives
• {Moderate
alternative}

• {Strong
• {Weak
alternative} alternative}

• {Excessive
• {Very weak alternative}
alternative}

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Handling Q and A

Ask yourself—
• What do they want to really know?
• What can they handle?
• Will this achieve my outcome?

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Tie Back to Outcome

“So how does this affect the timeline for the

Johnson project? I really don’t have time for
anything this complicated.”

“I’m glad you asked. It will take __________.

But what it will do in the long run is _________,
which you said is critical to your team.”

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 To Recap

• Is it Data or Information?

• What’s Your Purpose and

Outcome?

• Simplify Visuals

• Tie Answers to Issues and

Outcomes

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 About Communispond

• In business since 1969

• Trained 350+ of Fortune 500
• Three major area’s of business
communication:
– Executive communication
– Sales communication
– Interpersonal communication

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Questions

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Thank you

Communispond

US 1.800.529.5925
UK + 44 (0) 20 7017 5973

www.communispond.com

©2007 Communispond, Inc. All rights reserved.